<< Can you tell us their preferred instruments Patrick?
Post by Patrick NevePost by HanzoI guess it was Aristotle on Bass but I forgot about the other guys.
Pythagoras was a singer, and he also played the kithara, which is sort of
a 7-stringed lyre. (I believe this was several years before the invention
of the 7-string electric guitar). He's also credited with discovering the
fourth, fifth, and octave intervals. Thanks, Py!
Terpander was a famous singer from the island of Lesbos. (don't laugh.)
He also played the kithara, which he is actually credited with inventing.
He won some sort of medal for his kithara playing at the 26th Olympic
competition in Sparta. Imagine that, music as an olympic sport!
I'm not exactly sure which instruments Pindar played, but during his time
of flourish (6th century BCE), one of the primary instruments was the
Aulos, a type of oboe associated with the cult of Dionysus. And since
Pindar invented the form of the classical ode for choral music, it's safe
to say he could probably hum a few bars himself.
Aristotle played a variety of things, including devil's advocate. He also
established a number of modes, such as Dorian, Phrygian, and FZ's favorite
Mixolydian.
I'm also not too clear upon which instruments Aristoxenes kicked the most
ass, but he's considered to be an innovator of scale, harmony and rhythm.
He was the first to base theory of analysis on musical practice, and he
subdivided rhythm as a tripartite.
So while I have no idea how these guys ranked in terms of chops, I think
we owe enough of our musical environment to them that it would be
interesting if they could be transported through time to the present day
so they could comment on how things have evolved. (or devolved).
Hope that clears things up.
-Patrick
Boring. >>
Really? I found that quite interesting.